[Propertalk] Gospel sermon bits for October 17 - Part 5

[Joe Parrish]

But God is love, and love is not coercive. And so God never imposes justice. Yes, God does desire justice right now. And so God's immediate response is that justice be done - and done right now. But because God works only through the willing cooperation of human hearts and minds, actual justice comes at the speed of changed hearts, minds, and behaviour. And - sadly - we all know how fast that is.

The moral of the story is NOT about the judge finally responding. The moral is about the widow's persistence for justice during the long period of the judge not responding and giving no indication that he ever would.

And note that this is NOT a parable justifying being persistently pig-headed and stubborn. The widow's persistence is praised because it is persistence for JUSTICE. 

http://www.holytextures.com/2010/10/luke-18-1-8-year-c-pentecost-october-16-october-22-proper-24-ordinary-time-29-sermon.html

David Ewart, 2010
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God does not care about the "justice" of the poor widow's case, or, for that matter, the justice of anyone's case.  Whether you deserve heaven, or a good swift kick in the keister, is completely irrelevant.  God settles all these cases not on the basis of who deserves what, but on the basis of the death and resurrection of his son. 
Let anyone think they have a just cause, the real truth is that we are all losers.  As Martin Luther said on his deathbed, "We are all truly beggars."  In our winner-take-all world, we see this as bad news.  In God's world, however, this is good news--good news precisely because "the Son of Humanity came to seek and save the lost (19:10)."   

God raises the dead without regard to the "justice" of anyone's case.  We are all lost and dead in our sins, but God's "justice" is the "justification" of sinners.  God judges all on the basis of the cross and resurrection of his Son.  There are no other considerations.  

http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2010/10/lectionary-blogging-luke-18-1-8.html

John Petty, 2010 
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...know one thing. This is not about nagging prayer or an unwilling God, it is about a God who bears the suffering of people with them.
I think I speak for most of us from Western Christian backgrounds when I say, "We would like to have all our problems fixed quickly." It may even be one of the main reasons we pray at all. Prayer thus becomes what one Textweek blogger recently referred to as , "a process of giving God a 'to-do' list" That is not what Jesus understood by prayer.

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In Jesus day:

  a.. Unmarried women were not allowed to leave the home of their father.

  b.. Married women were not allowed to leave the home of their husband.

  c.. They were normally restricted to roles of little or no authority.

  d.. They could not testify in court.

  e.. They could not appear in public venues.

  f.. They were not allowed to talk to strangers.

  g.. They had to be doubly veiled when they left their homes."  http://www.religioustolerance.org/ofe_bibl.htm
http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/why-god-doesn't/

Peter Woods, 2010
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...what is it I want? I think I want, if not a moratorium, as least greater caution in labeling our positions as matters of justice from the pulpit. (And, for the record, I'd also caution against too quickly labeling one side of an argument a matter of "principle" or "morality" for the same reasons.) Because whenever we use those labels we rule one group of Christians and the views they hold immediately out of bounds, shut down conversation, and divide the Body of Christ.

http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=415

David Lose
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